The History of Blogging

In recent times, blogs have become an important part of our online and social fabric. Nearly all of us are exposed to blogging in some capacity, through either written, audio, or video form. Blogs can materialise in many guises, from hard-hitting and informative news driven reports, subjective personal documenting and story-telling, and casual, informal updates on entertainment, sport and fashion. Whatever your interest or passion, there is undoubtedly a blog out there to satisfy your requirements.

Despite the overwhelming popularity of blogs in our contemporary social sphere, the actual history of blogs themselves is rather brief in its tenure, even briefer than that of the relatively young internet itself. The prevalence of blogs has actually only risen to the fore of our social landscape within the past ten to fifteen years.

It is generally accepted that the first recognised creation of a blog was Links.net back in 1994 by American student, Justin Hall. Back at the time of Justin’s creation, his work was not terminologically known as a blog, it was merely considered to be a personal homepage that included recordings of personal feelings and activities. It is only now when blogs are commonplace online, that we can look back and retrospectively apply the term ‘blog’ to Justin’s work.

The rise of the internet in the early 2000s led to massive growth in what we now refer to as the blogosphere. In 1999 there were only 23 recognised blogs in existence on the internet. By 2006, however, there were a recognised 50 million blogs online.

The popularity and rise of blogs was in part due to the online intertwining of political decision-making and social commentary and discussion. Blogs served as a means of analysing, evaluating, promulgating and defending politically held views and values. They were seized upon by various types of political establishments to use as an online outlet for the espousing of subjectively held political and social beliefs.

Blogs entered the political media mainstream in the mid-to-late 2000s with many media groups using blogs as an additional means of broadcasting. With the popularity of the internet on a rapid and constant rise, online blogs were used to extend the already far reaching influence of the corporate political media. By the end of 2010 there were around 150 million active blogs online, with every major corporation and mainstream media group having at least official blog.

Blogs still play an important and influential role in society. Alongside social media and social networking, they form a crucial part of a person’s online voice. Blogs are likely to remain with us for quite some time into the future. They have woven themselves into our cultural and social fabric, and are likely to continue to do so for as long as people wish to be heard.